This invention relates to the field of commercial vehicle management devices, in particular, to an electronic system for monitoring the position of vehicles at a remote site, and more particularly, to an improved system for determining vehicle mileage, jurisdictional crossing and subsequently determining the fuel consumed in the respective jurisdiction for purposes of determining jurisdictional fuel tax.
In today""s trucking industry, trucks traveling in more than one state are required to have their road use tax apportioned among the states in which they travel. Typically, truck drivers maintain log books which show the time and routes they drive. Oftentimes, the information entered into these books is done after the fact, and as a result may be records that are either inaccurate, or have accidental omissions. In addition, these documents could be altered or falsified by the driver with little chance of detection.
Consequently, the state taxing authorities often question the accuracy of the driver log books, and assess a road use tax based upon their revised estimate of the number of miles driven within their state.
One method which has been proposed for enhancing the reliability of information relating to the mileage a truck travels in a particular state includes transponders at the state boundaries of interstate highways which are used to record entries and exits from states. While this method might be able to provide some enhanced reliability, it does have several serious drawbacks. First, the use of transponders requires the states to spend funds for permanent infrastructure, and it further requires an agreement and coordination between the states to have compatible transponders. Additionally, the use of transponders restricts the ability of the system to monitor entries and exits on unprotected secondary roads.
Another method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,291 by Jenkins et al. This patent discloses a commercial vehicle fleet management system which integrates a vehicle on-board computer, a process positioning system, and communications system to provide automated calculating and reporting of jurisdictional fuel taxes, road use taxes, vehicle registration fees, and the like. Also, disclosed is an online mobile communications system and a system for monitoring commercial vehicle efficiency and vehicle and driver performance.
Although the system described in the ""291 patent overcomes many of the problems described with respect to the transponders, this system still has many drawbacks. First, the system requires an on-board memory device and an on-board recording system. Therefore, this system does not allow for the constant real-time monitoring of the vehicle at a remote site. Second, the system employs a removable data storage media, allowing the vehicle to vehicle transfer of trip event data for a given operator. Although this is useful in tracking driver time, the removable storage media could be lost or damaged, and poses a management problem when one wants to gather all of the information about a particular vehicle. Lastly, since the state line crossing events are computed on-board, a vehicle accident may damage or destroy the on-board computer, which in turn would cause all the state line crossing data to be lost.
Therefore, there is still a need in the art for a system for remote monitoring of a vehicle and method of determining vehicle mileage, jurisdiction crossing and fuel consumption that does not require states to install permanent infrastructure, that does not require an agreement and coordination between the states to have compatible transponders, that functions properly on secondary roads, that does not require an on-board memory device and an on-board recording system, that does not employ a removable data storage media, allowing the vehicle to vehicle transfer of trip event data for a given operator, and does not perform calculations on-board. A remote, unconditional electronic monitoring system that determines vehicle position and determines vehicle state line crossing and fuel consumption via a wireless link is therefore desired in the art.
The present invention relates to an electronic monitoring system that determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings. The system includes a vehicle having a fuel reservoir from which fuel is consumed as an energy source. The system also includes a positioning system for generating the present position information of the vehicle. The information includes latitude, longitude and vehicle bearing. Additionally, the system includes fuel monitoring devices in the fuel system, whereby the fuel monitoring means generates information including the present level of fuel in the fuel reservoir, the total fuel consumed by the vehicle, the total amount of fuel consumed while idling. Also, a data collection device for collecting the present position information and the present fuel information. Finally, the system includes a server located at a remote site from the vehicle, the server receives data from the collecting device via wireless communications. The server determines when the vehicle crosses a jurisdiction border and computes the fuel consumption in the jurisdiction.
The present invention also includes an electronic monitoring system that determines a jurisdictional crossing from a remote location. The system includes a vehicle, and a positioning system for generating present position information including latitude and longitude information of the vehicle. Also, a data collection device for collecting the present position information and a processor located remote from the vehicle. The processor receives data from the collecting device, and the processor determines when the vehicle crosses a jurisdiction border.
Therefore, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that electronically determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that captures vehicle position and fuel consumption and transmits all information to a remote server, and does not record or save any calculated fuel or jurisdiction information on the vehicle.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that does not require the use of a vehicle odometer.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that does not require the use of removable data storage media, but allows the recordation of a given operator""s trip record in a central location, remote from the vehicle, and is easily accessed from a central processor.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that determines the route of the vehicle using longitude, latitude and bearing data points taken at regular time intervals, using a positioning system, and wirelessly transmits these data points to a remote server, and the remote server plots the route of the vehicle.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings and determines the fuel consumption by using data points that are taken from the fuel system at regular time intervals, these data points correspond to the vehicle location data points, and thus the fuel consumed at every point during the vehicle""s route can be determined.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that determines the location and time of a refueling event, as well as the change in fuel level resulting from the refueling event.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle position and fuel consumption, that determines the location and time of a refueling event, as well as the amount of idle fuel used within a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle position and fuel consumption, that determines the location and time of a refueling event, and determines the miles traveled within a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle mileage and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that does not require states to install permanent infrastructure.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle position and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that does not require an agreement and coordination between the states to have compatible transponders.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle position and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that functions properly on secondary roads.
It another aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines vehicle position and fuel consumption in a jurisdiction, and jurisdiction crossings that is unconditional and transmits all fuel consumption and location information via a wireless link.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a monitoring system that determines a jurisdictional crossing by a vehicle from a remote location.
These aspects of the invention are not meant to be exclusive and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art when read in conjunction with the appended claims and accompanying drawings.